The two companies said Monday they will begin selling vacation packages pairing three- or four-night stays at Universal Orlando with four- or five-night cruises aboard Royal Caribbean's 2,500-passenger Jewel of the Seas. Royal Caribbean plans to begin using Tampa as the ship's home port on a seasonal basis beginning in November.

Universal and Royal Caribbean already sell land-and-sea packages featuring four-, five- or seven-night cruises out of Port Canaveral. The two companies are following a model created by the Walt Disney Co., which has for more than a decade sold packages combining visits to Walt Disney World with voyages aboard Disney Cruise Line.

For Royal Caribbean, the expanded deal with Universal is another move into Disney's lucrative family-cruise niche. The Miami-based cruise operator last year struck a separate deal with DreamWorks Animation to outfit some of its ships with characters from animated movies such as "Shrek" and "Madagascar," much the way Celebration-based Disney Cruise Line features popular children's characters such as Buzz Lightyear and Donald Duck.

The Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas was built at the Meyer Werft shipyards and delivered in October 2014. It's the first of two ships that have been part of the line's Project Sunshine. The sister ship Anthem of the Seas is due in spring 2015. Read about ship details